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Few strikeouts for this 20-6 guy

With two weeks remaining before the All-Star Break, we have some uniquely exciting news in baseball. For the second time this season, we have experienced an anomaly that has never occurred in the history of the sport. Strikeouts exceeded hits in the month of June.

There were 6,776 strikeouts and 6,640 hits in the month. This happened for the first time ever in April. Are we seeing a long-term change in the game? Only time will tell.

Secondly, whether you love ‘em or love to hate ‘em, The Bronx Bombers are back. I am a Las Vegan for nearly 30 years having been born and raised on the streets of the Lower East Side, Manhattan, New York City. Though I write my column objectively, I bleed pinstripes.

If you are either a diehard for the team or an overall sports fan, the Yankees deserve some appreciation. With 13 games still remaining, the New York lineup established a new club mark with 137 homers prior to the All-Star break, shattering a previous record of 134 set in 2002 and tied in ‘12.

Speaking of shattering records, again last week, I swept the board here in GT with my Best Bets. That’s four perfect weeks at 2-0 to bring my season record up to 20-6.

Here is this week’s Best Bet (all stats and trends are as of print and may change as can starting pitchers):

Tuesday, Orioles at Phillies: What do you get when you combine one of the worst road teams against one of the best home teams in baseball? The makings of a disaster!

Baltimore brings its 12-30 road record into Citizens Bank Park where Philadelphia dons a 28-16 home mark. It’s been 35 years since the O’s have won a pennant and the way it’s looking, it might be 35 more.

The owners of the overall worst record in the Majors (24-59) face a Phillies team that has climbed from a pre-season 100/1 World Series Odds all the way down to less than 20/1.

Philadelphia, at 45-37, is just 3 GB from Atlanta in the NL East. Alex Cobb gets the nod here. The RH is 2-9 with a 6.75 ERA on the season, yielding 104 hits, with just 50 K’s, in 74.2 IP. Zack Eflin takes the mound at home.

Eflin possesses a 6-2 record and 3.02 ERA on the campaign, winning 5 straight turns over such notables as the Cubs, Brewers (twice), Nationals and the Yankees. The righty has not allowed more than 2 ER. Baltimore is 3-11 in Cobb’s last 14 overall starts, 14-43 in his 57 on the road, 10-26 in Game 1 of a series, 6-17 his last 23 interleague games, and 28-78 overall. Not good. PHILLIES